SANCHEZ AND GUIDA TO HEADLINE THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER&reg; SEASON 9 FINALE

Las Vegas, NV (USA) – The Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC®) is proud to announce a stellar headlining match for The Ultimate Fighter® Season 9 finale, which will take place Saturday, June 20 from The Pearl at Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas’ Palms Hotel, live on Spike TV. Both winners of their last three matches, ascending lightweights Diego “The Nightmare” Sanchez and Clay “The Carpenter” Guida are on a collision course that will end in the Octagon™ for what could be three of the most furiously-paced rounds of the year.

DIEGO SANCHEZ AND CLAY GUIDA TO HEADLINE THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER® SEASON 9 FINALE

LIVE Saturday, June 20 from The Palms In Las Vegas

Las Vegas, NV (USA) – The Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC®) is proud to announce a stellar headlining match for The Ultimate Fighter® Season 9 finale, which will take place Saturday, June 20 from The Pearl at Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas’ Palms Hotel, live on Spike TV. Both winners of their last three matches, ascending lightweights Diego “The Nightmare” Sanchez and Clay “The Carpenter” Guida are on a collision course that will end in the Octagon™ for what could be three of the most furiously-paced rounds of the year.

“Diego Sanchez vs. Clay Guida has the potential to be one of the most action packed fights of the year,” UFC President Dana White said. “Both men have won multiple “Fight of the Night “awards and are two of the most aggressive grapplers in the division. Guida is coming off a big win over The Ultimate Fighter Season 5 winner Nate Diaz and Sanchez just defeated The Ultimate Fighter Season 2 winner Joe Stevenson. The winner of this fight will move into the upper portion of the lightweight rankings and get that much closer to a title shot.”

Tickets for this event will go on sale Saturday, April 4 at noon PT and will be priced at $354, $254 and $154. Please visit or call the Palms box office at (702) 944-3200, call any Ticketmaster location at 702-474-4000 or visit www.ticketmaster.com to purchase tickets. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at 800-745-3000.

UFC® Fight Club™ members will have the opportunity to purchase tickets to this event Thursday, April 2 at noon PT via the website UFC.com. A special Internet ticket pre-sale will be available to UFC newsletter subscribers Friday, April 3 starting at noon PT. To access this presale, users must register for the UFC newsletter through UFC.com.

Coming off three impressive wins against David Bielkheden, Luigi Fioravanti and Joe Stevenson, Diego Sanchez (fighting out of San Diego, Calif.) looks to be peaking at the perfect time in his career. In his first ever UFC fight at lightweight, the Albuquerque, New Mexico native looked lean and hungry against Stevenson as he pounded out an impressive decision victory. A winner on the debut season of The Ultimate Fighter, the 27-year-old Sanchez has fond memories of fighting at The Ultimate Fighter season finales.

“Clay likes to push the pace and test a fighter’s conditioning, but so do I,” Sanchez said. “Right now, I’m at the perfect weight and it’s the perfect time in my career to make a run at the title. I’ve already won a couple matches at the finales, so I’m feeling confident heading into this fight.”

A fighter that doesn’t have an “off” switch, Clay Guida (fighting out of Johnsburg, Ill.) is known for his aggressive style and perpetual high energy level. Coming off a three round decision win against fellow rising star Nate Diaz, “The Carpenter” seems to be immune to boring fights, and he guarantees a memorable night against Sanchez, who is also known for his conditioning.

“I couldn’t feel more confident about this fight right now in my career,” Guida said. “We’re both coming off three consecutive wins and we’re two of the most explosive lightweights in the division. This has the potential to be fight of the year. My hands are going to be the best they’ve been…Vegas is where I do my best work.”

For more information, or current UFC fight news, visit UFC.com, UK.UFC.com, GERMANY.UFC.com or UFCEspanol.com. All bouts live and subject to change.

About The Ultimate Fighting Championship®The Ultimate Fighting Championship® is the world’s leading professional mixed martial arts organization and offers the premier series of MMA sports events. Owned and operated by Zuffa™, LLC, and headquartered in Las Vegas, Nev., UFC® produces over twelve live pay-per-view events annually that are distributed residentially through North American cable and satellite providers including iNDEMAND Networks, DIRECTV, DISH Network, TVN Entertainment, BellTV, SaskTel Max™, Shaw Pay-Per-View, Viewers Choice, and WOWOW in Japan, and Premiere Combate and SporTV in Brazil, and via the Internet worldwide on Yahoo! Sports, and commercially through Joe Hand Promotions in the U.S. and Canadastar in Canada. In addition to its North American distribution, UFC programming is distributed in over 100 countries and territories throughout the world. For more information, or current UFC fight news, visit ufc.com or uk.ufc.com or ufcespanol.com.

Ultimate Fighting Championship®, Ultimate Fighting®, UFC®, The Ultimate Fighter®, Submission®, As Real As It Gets®, Zuffa™, The Octagon™ and the eight-sided competition mat and cage design are registered trademarks, trademarks, trade dress or service marks owned exclusively by Zuffa, LLC in the United States and other jurisdictions. All other marks referenced herein may be the property of Zuffa, LLC or other respective owners.

About Spike TVSpike TV is available in 97.7 million homes and is a division of MTV Networks. A unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), MTV Networks is one of the world’s leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. Spike TV’s Internet address is www.spike.com and for up-to-the-minute and archival press information and photographs, visit Spike TV's press site at http://www.spike.com/press.

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